LIVING in a democratic country may add 11 years to your life expectancy, according to new research from the University of British Columbia’s department of sociology. The study found that people living in countries that hold free and fair elections live 11 years longer, on average, and see a reduction in infant mortality by almost […]

WOMEN expecting a baby can access a new Pregnancy Passport to help them have a healthy pregnancy, track their progress, and prepare for their baby.

Our Special Journey: Pregnancy Passport is a booklet developed by Perinatal Services BC in partnership with the Ministry of Health and health authorities and is a companion to Baby’s Best Chance: Parents’ Handbook of Pregnancy and Baby Care.

The Pregnancy Passport includes:

* information for women to think about and discuss with their care provider relating to their needs throughout their pregnancy, birth, and after their baby is born;

Dr. George I. Traitses Pesticides are a class of biocide intended to attract, seduce and destroy pests, most commonly used to protect plant crops. That’s great for the plants and bad for the pests, of course – but what about us? Unfortunately, pesticides are toxins, which means we’re not supposed to be anywhere near them

As the world struggles against the rapid spread of the Zika virus, the Canadian government is opening its wallet to shell out nearly $5 million for research and international aid.

Health Minister Jane Philpott announced a funding package of $4.95 million before question period Wednesday afternoon, which she called a “significant and important international response” on Canada’s part.

The virus has been linked by health officials to causing microcephaly, a rare but serious birth defect that leads to unusually small heads and hindering newborn development.

“This will fund large international projects that will address the spread of the Zika virus,” she said.

According to the minister’s office, $3 million will go toward in research, through Canada Institutes of Health Research, and the International Research Development Centre. Specifically it goes into researching the link between Zika, microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome, along with developing better ways of testing for the virus, studying how it gets transmitted, and finding better ways of preventing transmission from mosquitoes.

Public Health Agency of Canada will send $950,000 to the Pan American Health Organization for responding to countries hardest hit, and Global Affairs Canada will divvy up $1 million for humanitarian funding to a number of organizations, including the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, and the International Federation of Red Cross.

In the U.S., meanwhile, the White House and health officials have been urging Congress to grant $1.9 billion in new funding to deal with the health threat Zika poses internationally and domestically, and while waiting the administration has raided funding from an Ebola fund to make due.

In Canada, the Zika threat itself has been low because the country doesn’t have the Aedes type of mosquito that spreads the virus. According to Public Health Agency Canada’s last update from last week, Canada has 67 cases identified from travel and one from sexual transmission.

Zika has been around in Africa and Asia for decades, but in the past few years it was introduced into the Americas and has been spreading rapidly.

Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad. – Unknown author IN the past, both here in Canada and in India, mothers were expected to do the lion’s share of raising the child, while the men worked outside the home to support the family. Women did not […]

A trip to an organic dairy farm in Ontario was enough to inspire a former Wall Street banker to launch a global search for better ways to treat farm animals.

“This was an organic farm, but the cows still weren’t treated well,” recalls author Sonia Faruqi. “They were indoors two-thirds of the year and outdoors only one-third of the year, and while they were indoors, they were chained to stalls, which is really unnatural for cows, who are grazing animals.”

After volunteering for two weeks at the dairy farm, Faruqi visited other Ontario farms, but not without resistance from farmers, who she says are part of a tightly knit community.

“Everyone they know is a farmer, so if you’re someone who comes from a city, or who’s brown, or even a woman in a very male-dominated industry, you're immediately very different,” explains Faruqi, who was born in Pakistan and raised in the United Arab Emirates.

She worked at an investment bank on Wall Street in the United States before the 2008 economic crisis, after which she joined her family who had just immigrated to Canada.

“Everyone they know is a farmer, so if you’re someone who comes from a city, or who’s brown, or even a woman in a very male-dominated industry, you're immediately very different.”

Faruqi says she used her savings to visit and volunteer at farms in several countries, including the United States, Malaysia and Mexico.

While Faruqi says she witnessed many examples of animals being mistreated, such as chickens being kept in overcrowded cages and pigs covered in their own feces, she also visited farms where animals were well treated and healthy.

In Belize, Faruqi stayed on a farm with female Mennonite missionaries, who she says have a holistic view of the land and do not refer to raising livestock as agriculture or business, but as “animal husbandry.”

She says the women named their cows and allowed them to graze in fields with ponds and other animals.

“It was interesting for me to see that kind of affection for the animals and the land.”

Faruqi also compared the farming practices between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore to explore how industrialization affects the treatment of animals.

“It’s all changed to an extremely industrialized, very low-cost system.”

She explains that in Malaysia, which has recently experienced rapid economic growth, the popularity of fast food chains like KFC and McDonald’s has led to an increase in factory-farm practices, including artificial insemination, antibiotic use and corn-based diets.

“It’s all changed to an extremely industrialized, very low-cost system,” she explains. “Local farms, breeds, and knowledge that people have of animals and of the land – all of it is eradicated.”

By contrast, in Indonesia, which is less industrialized, Faruqi witnessed hens walking freely in villages that only visited their owners’ homes in the mornings for breakfast.

“I noticed people walking their cows,” she adds. “It was interesting to see that bond that people have with animals.”

She notes that at some of the farms she visited in Ontario, farmers didn’t visit their farms and relied on automated systems to update them on their animals.

The many downsides to factory farming

Faruqi says that despite the downsides to factory farming, the government in Malaysia promotes fast food because it symbolizes industrialization and development.

“The same way people wear jeans and listen to American music, they’re also eating American foods, which are hamburgers and fries and actually not good for you,” she says.

“There’s tens of billions of farm animals in the world and most of them are being made to suffer to produce cheap food for people, who should not be eating that much meat, milk and eggs to begin with.”

“When people move here, they really want to integrate to the extent that they leave their own food heritage.”

Faruqi says consumers have the power to promote good farming habits by eating less animal products and demanding that the animal products they do eat be produced in healthier ways.

“There’s a misconception that you have to be white and wealthy to even think about this, which is not true, because in the end, everyone’s health is important.”

A disproportionate impact on immigrants

She notes that while language or income barriers might prevent newcomers from making healthy choices, many of them come to Canada practising healthy eating habits that they don’t retain.

“When people move here, they really want to integrate to the extent that they leave their own food heritage.”

The vegetarian diet that is popular in India is an example that Western societies can learn to value, she says.

She notes that immigrants can also be disproportionately affected on the production side, because factory farms employ many immigrants in slaughterhouses.

“Part of the reason is that these are jobs non-immigrants don’t want, for clear reasons,” she says. “Workers have mental and physical health issues, which are not really treated.”

Faruqi advocates for more government oversight of factory farms and regulations to protect animal rights, as well as the inclusion of more women in agriculture.

She says that under current laws in Canada and the U.S., a pig has the same rights as a table, “which is really ridiculous when you think about it, because one is an animate being with instincts and interests and desires, at the very least, to not suffer.”

This content was developed exclusively for New Canadian Media and can be re-published with appropriate attribution. For syndication rights, please write to publisher@newcanadianmedia.ca

A Commonwealth initiative to boost Sierra Leone's health protection policy is designed to strengthen national health systems and help prevent and manage the impacts of future disease outbreaks, says Dr Joanna Nurse, Head of Health at the Commonwealth Secretariat. The project with Sierra Leone's Government and other development partners comes amid national and international efforts to recover from the Ebola outbreak. The pandemic cost Sierra Leone nearly 4,000 lives - more than (...)

A new food guide combines recipes from British Columbia’s immigrant communities with local seafood options to teach new Canadians how to incorporate B.C. fish into a healthy diet.

“You have chefs from all over the world, and then you make them cook this local product,” says Siddharth Choudhary, the executive chef of Siddhartha’s Kitchen, a Vancouver restaurant that specializes in Indian food. “So people will be able to make dishes with ingredients they can find in any grocery store. It’s kind of a nice mix.”

This type of diet keeps cholesterol low, prevents heart disease and includes foods high in Omega-3 acids like salmon and other types of local B.C. fish.

[I]mmigrants often don’t know how to incorporate salmon into their diets.

According to Jeremy Dunn, the executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association, this could be because immigrants often don’t know how to incorporate salmon into their diets.

“One thing we hear a fair bit from people with respect to salmon, especially with respect to making it at home, is that either they don’t know how to cook it, or they don’t know more than one way to cook it,” he says. “And so it gets boring.”

In order to address this, MOSAIC and the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association recruited chefs from different backgrounds in order to produce the Eating Resource Guide, titled A Mosaic of Flavours, comprised of six recipes by six different chefs.

The guide showcases different ways to cook meals that utilize B.C.’s local fish and seafood. Of the six recipes presented in the guide, four have salmon as a main ingredient. 'Indian Baked Salmon' and 'Salmon Chinese Way' are two examples.

Guide a nod to B.C.’s multiculturalism

“Apart from the nutrition factor, the guide gives you different types of recipes. It gives you a little bit of Korean, of continental, of Indian, and more,” says Choudhary.

For the chef, the fact that the guide mixes local and international ingredients and spices showcases the multicultural nature of B.C., a province in which visible minorities represent just over 25 per cent of the population.

[T]he guide mixes local and international ingredients and spices ...

Moreover, Choudhary says the guide also highlights the stories of the chefs who come from a variety of ethno-cultural backgrounds.

“By reading the guide, you can learn about these chefs coming from different countries who are working very hard in order to be successful,” he says. “I think it sets an example.”

For Choudhary, being fluent in English and spending almost a decade working in Europe and Asia didn’t relieve him from the struggles many immigrants face when they settle in a new country.

Choudhary moved to Canada with his family seven years ago and a year after settling in Vancouver, he opened Siddhartha’s Kitchen.

“When I first arrived, I was very confused about what to do and how to do it,” he shares.

At the time, Choudhary wasn’t aware of the existence of immigrant settlement agencies. After learning about the services these organizations provide to newcomers, he became eager to help.

“We want to create awareness amongst newcomers on the relationship between healthy eating and heart disease.”

His opportunity arrived last month, when he learned that MOSAIC was looking for chefs to compile a healthy eating guide.

“I thought it would be a great idea to come up with a new recipe,” Choudhary says. “I wanted to incorporate my skills, to [do] whatever I could to contribute with MOSAIC.”

Healthy diet is not enough

The purpose of the guide is not only to provide newcomers with ideas on how to incorporate more seafood into their diets, but also to start a conversation about the benefits of eating healthy.

“We want to create awareness amongst newcomers on the relationship between healthy eating and heart disease,” says Ninu Kang, MOSAIC’s director of communications and development. “Our focus with this guide is to have newcomers start to think about their diets, and to create awareness about the different healthy foods that are available.”

The Heart and Stroke Foundation reports that 600,000 Canadians are living with heart failure. A 2015 study found that some aspects of Western culture, like fast food and cigarettes, can contribute to declining heart health among immigrants when they arrive in Canada.

According to the same study, immigrants from South Asia had the highest rates of heart problems.

Dr. Manjeet Mann, a cardiologist based in Victoria, B.C., says eating oily fishes like salmon at least once a week is a good start towards a healthier lifestyle, but he warns that it is not enough. He recommends also discussing food choices with a dietitian and doing moderate exercise daily.

“A guide is only useful if it can be applied to your day-to-day practice, and I find that without dietitian consultation, it tends to be very generic,” he says.

This content was developed exclusively for New Canadian Media and can be re-published with appropriate attribution. For syndication rights, please write to publisher@newcanadianmedia.ca

Through this strategy, parents are informed if their children’s immunization records do not meet the requirement of the Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA). They have a month to send the updated information to OPH. If they do not want to immunize their children for religious or medical reasons, they can provide an exception.

“We try to make this process as easy as possible. Parents can give us the information by phone, fax, online, mail or in person,” says Turcotte. They also provide information in different languages and they have translators available. In addition, they offer immunization clinics for individuals who do not have a family physician, where health insurance is not required.

If parents do not provide the update on time, the child can be suspended for up to 20 school days.

Improved access to clean water and vaccinations are the main reasons why longevity has increased over the last century.

According to data OPH provided by email, between December 2015 and January 2016, OPH has issued suspensions to approximately 3,100 students. As of January 21, parents and guardians of 99% of students who were suspended between the same period have updated their immunization records, and these students have returned to school.

“It is crucial to have the system up-to-date because if there is an outbreak of a disease, we can see which children could be at risk and we can intervene on time,” says Turcotte.

National and provincial policies

Most Canadian provinces do not meet national immunization targets for key diseases. Different efforts aiming to achieve these targets have been implemented across the country, but the approaches vary from province to province.

While in Ontario immunizations are usually given at doctors’ offices and data is not officially recorded until a child enters school, provinces like Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador have a nurse-led model focusing on early interventions that start at birth, says Colin Busby, senior policy analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute.

Sofía Vargas emigrated from Chile and had her baby in Vancouver. She notes that in British Columbia interventions also start promptly. “There is a preoccupation to motivate parents to immunize their children,” she says. “As soon as the baby is born, the doctor explains why you should do it.”

“Immunizations are safe and effective ways to prevent diseases. There is no effective treatment for many of them once they are contracted, so prevention is our only strategy.”

Busby clarifies that each province has its unique features, and a policy that works in one is not necessarily effective in another. However, he believes that compelling parents to make a vaccination decision is an initial step to be considered nationally.

Challenges unique to newcomers

Improved access to clean water and vaccinations are the main reasons why longevity has increased over the last century, Busby explains. However, finding accurate and timely information about immunization can be difficult for newcomers.

“In a study conducted among immigrant women in Edmonton, we found that the reason why their children are not being immunized is that mothers are not being told where, when or how to receive vaccinations,” says Stephanie Kowal, knowledge translation coordinator in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Ubaka Ogbogu, assistant professor in University of Alberta’s faculties of law and pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, identifies language barriers and challenges accessing health care as other difficulties newcomers may face.

Parents can access information about immunization in Canada at national and provincial websites.

Moreover, vaccines used in Canada are not always part of immunization programs globally, and immigrant families may have lived in circumstances where health care is limited or unreliable, explains Dr. Noni MacDonald, professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.

She highlights the need for addressing this issue. “Immunizations are safe and effective ways to prevent diseases. There is no effective treatment for many of them once they are contracted, so prevention is our only strategy.”

However, Kowal believes that comprehensive information, communication and delivery services tailored to immigrants’ needs are lacking.

Although there are some resources provided in languages other than English and French, Dr. Ogbogu says that most of the information available is not translated.

Another challenge is that most information is online, leaving families without internet access behind, explains Kowal. She suggests seeking information through local libraries or family doctors; not being afraid of asking questions; and looking for translation services, available at some clinics and hospitals at no cost.

Vargas adds that there are provincial phone numbers people can call to ask for medical information. She encourages parents to look for resources and get involved. “Vaccines are a remarkable milestone in public health,” she says. “It is our duty as parents to be responsible in this scientific development that translates into the safety and health of our children.”

This content was developed exclusively for New Canadian Media and can be re-published with appropriate attribution. For syndication rights, please write to publisher@newcanadianmedia.ca

The 68th UN General Assembly recently coined 2016 as the International Year of Pulses (IYP) with the goal of increasing public awareness regarding food security and nutrition. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), this project was created to promote global production and make better use of crop rotations, as…

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The honest truth is there is still reluctance around immigration policy... When we want to talk about immigration and we say we want to bring more immigrants in because it's good for the economy, we still get pushback.